May 20, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

RAWALPINDI, May 19: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising its Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam and Justice Raja Saeed Akram, issued notices to the state in the bail plea of former Lal Masjid chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and directed the police to submit relevant record in two weeks.

The lawyer of Maulana Aziz has moved the IHC seeking bail in the Children Library burning case as an anti-terrorism court has earlier denied the cleric bail in the case.

Maulana Aziz has pleaded in the petition that the May 13 order of the ATC is presumptive in nature as the prosecution had so far failed to establish his direct link with the occupation of the library and its subsequent burning.

He said in the petition that other accused in the case had been granted bail and he was not even nominated in the FIR registered with the Aabpara police on January 21, 2007, under section 427 (Mischief causing damage to property), 428 (Mischief by killing or maiming animal), 452 (House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 506 (Criminal intimidation) of Pakistan Penal Code and sections six and seven of Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA).

It is further stated in the bail petition that nothing has been recovered from Maulana Aziz and there is a need for further inquiry to establish the involvement of the cleric in the case.

The IHC also adjourned the bail plea of Faisal Mushtaq and Qasim Mushtaq, two real brothers, arrested by the Islamabad police for their alleged involvement in the July 17, 2007, suicide attack at the then chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s rally on the Islamabad Bar Association’s premises.

The federal council in this case on Monday asked the court for two weeks time to produce the record before the court.

The court while granting two weeks time adjourned the hearing.

Meanwhile, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench, comprising Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah and Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi, put off the hearing in the petition of the Punjab government seeking cancellation of bail granted to a woman allegedly involved in the twin suicide attacks on the convoy of President Pervez Musharraf on December 25, 2003.

The petitioner sought adjournment as Assistant Advocate General (AAG) Hasnain Kazmi was not present in the court.

On its last hearing the court had directed the Advocate General (AG) to intimate the trial court about the acquittal of the accused, Shazia Mubashir, of the charges by the Field General Court Marshal as lawyer her had argued before the court that his client had been absolved of the charges by a military court so she could not be tried again under the same facts and charges.